5 Tips For Healthier Eating
Jun 06, 2024
There are many different ways to improve diet and lifestyle. As Healthy Eating Week is coming up, we have put together 5 easy tips that can help you improve your diet and promote healthy eating habits!
1. Eat More Fibre
Fibre is essential for digestion, and it can also help us feel full, which can help prevent overeating! Additionally, fibre rich diets are linked with a decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. Foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds are particularly rich in fibre. Ensure you have a source of fibre with ever meal; you can achieve this by adding more veggies to a meal or swapping out low fibre options with high fibre options, for instance by swapping white bread and pasta with whole grain options!
2. 5 a day
Chances are you have heard about "5 a day", which is a campaign that encourages having 5 or more portions of fruits and vegetables per day. In reality, we should always opt for more, as diets high fruits and vegetables can help lower the risk of developing health complications. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is also beneficial for gut health, and can improve the diversity of your microbiota! Try to add more fruits and vegetables to meals where possible, or have them as snacks in between meals.
3. Less ultra processed foods
It seems like everybody's talking about ultra processed foods nowadays, and with good reason - adults and children in the UK get more than half of their calorie intakes from ultra processed foods! The best way to reduce our intakes of UPF is to cook from scratch using whole foods ingredients, make your lunches at home to bring to school/work, and snack on whole fruits and veggies instead of crisps and candy bars. Opt for foods with shorter ingredients lists and with less processed ingredients, e.g. whole grains rather than refined.
4. More protein
Protein is an essential macronutrient and an important building block for muscles and tissues, it can also help prevent the breakdown of muscle and help us feel satiated! Protein can be found in products like protein bars and protein powders; however these are ultra processed food products and should be consumed in moderation. Instead, opt for whole food protein options like chicken, beef, fish, eggs, dairy product like yogurt and cottage cheese, beans and legumes. Every meal should contain a source of protein, and we should aim to consume 1-2g protein per kg bodyweight per day!
5. Small changes
Making small changes to diet and lifestyle over time to promote healthy and sustainable habits can be beneficial in the long run. If you decide to drastically change your diet overnight, or go from not exercising at all to implementing a workout plan that means you have to spend 2 hours in the gym every day, you will probably fall off the wagon relatively quickly. Instead, try making small changes, like cooking a meal at home instead of getting a ready meal or a takeaway, have an extra piece of fruit a day, swap a sugary drink for water. These small changes can improve health in the long term!
